Reflecting on your learning may be quite new to you; therefore you may find this short guide useful to you. Reflecting will aid your learning as the more you think about the concepts and issues in your role and connect them to what you know and see around you, the more you will remember and learn. Reflective writing is the expression of some of the mental processes of reflection. It is a technique that will be invaluable to you in completing your e-portfolio.

Reflective writing usually involves:

• looking back at an event (e.g. something that has happened at work) or at one of your assessments. It is often also useful to reflect forward to the future as well as reflecting back to the past
• analysing the event or idea. Thinking in depth and from different perspectives and trying to explain them. It is an exploration and explanation of events, not just a description of them
• thinking carefully about what the event or idea means for you and your ongoing progress as a practising professional. This includes what you would do differently, if anything, next time.

Reflective writing is therefore more personal than other types of academic writing. It is important to use the first person – ‘I’.

One of the benefits of reflecting writing is that often writing something down can also help you to be clearer in your mind about an event. For example, if you are doing a presentation or some teaching, as well as describing the event you may want to evaluate your performance by questioning yourself and perhaps by challenging yourself. Others might have different views of the same event, so you may also consider the performance of others etc. On considering your own reaction to your writing you may even change the manner in which you have initially viewed the situation and written about it.

It is important to pitch your writing knowing that is it likely that someone else will be looking at it. It is usual to share your portfolio with your educational supervisor, although you are not required to show all of it. Your educational supervisor will also be able to give you some help and guidance on how you can develop your portfolio.

Keeping your portfolio up-to-date is essential as it is used as evidence for your end of year sign off, so don’t be tempted to leave off filling everything in until the last minute. From a careers perspective your portfolio is absolutely essential - you will often be asked to show some of your portfolio in a specialty interview. We have further information below in this guide on how to present your portfolio in an interview.

Some foundation schools now use e-portfolios, although others may still be using paper portfolios.  The Rough Guide to the Foundation Programme states that the contents of the Foundation Learning Portfolio include the following:

• A list of competences required to successfully complete the foundation programme
• Example forms to record meetings with your educational supervisor, reflective practice and self-appraisal
• Educational agreement
• Assessment forms
• A Personal Development Plan (PDP) including career planning

The 'Getting the most of the E-portfolio guide' (which can be downloaded from the UKFPO website), has an extensive section on the foundation learning portfolio. This gives you specific guidance on how to use the portfolio and it also includes some case studies of how foundation trainees have used it in the past.

The foundation portfolio specifically links the different assessment tools e.g. Directly Observed Procedures (DOPs), Mini-CEXs etc. to the competences used in the foundation curriculum.

The South West Peninusula Deanery/ AGCAS DVD which we have mentioned in the resources pages of this site has a whole section on presenting your portfolio at an interview. Here are our notes from the video:

You need to be aware that interviewers will already have had access to your portfolio prior to interview and so firstly you need to make sure your portfolio is:

• Neat, handwriting legible
• Easy to follow (e.g. contents page etc)
• Not missing anything
• Well structured and organised.

The portfolio will help the interviewer form an impression and from it you will know whether you have completed required tasks and if you are competent.

The portfolio should include the following:

• A contents page
• A summary CV
• A full CV

Throughout the portfolio you ‘should highlight your commitment to the specialty you have chosen’ (The South West Peninsular Deanery/ AGCAS , 2008) and know when and where to refer to it if asked. You should demonstrate to the interviewer that you understand what you need to do to achieve your goals.

Preparation is very important. For example, before the interview, you should consider two or three strong points about your portfolio that you would like the panel to be aware of and highlight how it relates to the specialty to which you are applying.  The questions that are asked may be quite general so you will need to try and incorporate them into your answers.  The panel may also ask about the weak points of the portfolio, so you also need to consider this. 

You need to be prepared for questions about your portfolio and what you have done.  They may ask you about your feelings in certain situations.  Practising as much as possible will help with this and will help you to relax and stay calm during the interview.

In order to demonstrate your commitment to specialty you could also print off and add to your portfolio some of the self-assessment exercises that you have completed on this website.

An interesting article The e-portfolio can be found on the BMJ careers website

Also see the BMJ article: Tips on…Reflective writing